Elizabeth Goddard - Submerged

He was getting closer.

Cobie turned to face the water surrounding the island. A boat. She saw a trawler. She waved and yelled and screamed, trying to draw the boat’s attention. What did it matter if the man heard her calling for help? He was coming for her either way.

But the boat was too far away for anyone on board to hear her cries for help. Too far away to assist even if they did. Her knees buckled. She wanted to drop to the ground and beg for her life. But the killer wasn’t interested in her words. Of that she was sure. If she stayed here, the man would kill her for reasons unknown. He didn’t seem interested in giving or taking information from her.

Oh, God, I’m not ready to die. So much left to do yet. To figure out.

She couldn’t stay where she was. But she could jump. And if she jumped, she just might miss the rocks. Then again, she could meet with a rocky death, but she wouldn’t give him the satisfaction of killing her.

Still, a plunge into the water below gave her a better chance of a survival.

Cobie sent up one last prayer. She took a running, flying leap off the sea cliff.

* * *

Adam Warren’s stomach churned as he leaned over the railing at the side of the trawler, struggling to get his sea legs. The waters of the strait to the southwest of Kessler Island had turned dark and rough as they flowed out of Chambers Passage, just one of the many waterways of the Inside Passage weaving through Alaska’s panhandle.

He rubbed his eyes. Squinted. Was motion sickness making him hallucinate? What had he just seen? “Guys?”

“I saw her, too.” Gary headed up the winding staircase to the bridge. Turned his parents’ trawler to starboard.

Though far away, they’d been close enough to see what looked like long brown hair whipping around, jacket flying up to reveal a trim figure as she jumped into the crashing waves.

Everyone rushed to the bridge with Gary, the highest point on the boat. “What do you think? Suicide?”

Nate and Jared, two of Adam’s caving buddies, scanned the depths with Adam as the trawler sliced through the rough waves.

“No.” A sense of urgency wrapped around Adam. Please, God, let her be okay.

He quickly shrugged out of his rain jacket, preparing to dive in after her, if needed. But where was she? He grabbed the life buoy and prepared to toss it out. But depending on how she hit the water, at that height, she could have a compressed spine, or any number of other injuries. She’d drown if they didn’t find her, if she wasn’t already sinking from cold water shock response.

Then Nate sucked in a breath. “I see her! There she is!” He pointed at the water, miles and miles of water.

Gary steered the boat toward where Nate pointed.

Adam searched the waters, too. A head bobbed. She waved. But then she went under again. “Get this thing closer, will you?”

He couldn’t swim faster than the trawler, so he’d have to bide his time. But if they didn’t make it soon, she was going under for good. Gary was experienced enough at handling the boat. Adam trusted him to do his best, but it was still taking too long. Adam and his siblings volunteered on the North Face Mountain Search and Rescue Team—it gnawed at him to stand back and wait when someone needed help.

They neared the last place they saw the jumper, and Adam bounded down the steps to the lower deck and tossed the lifesaving buoy into the water. But the woman didn’t surface again. Without hesitation he dived into the cold depths of the strait, then swam toward the ring he’d tossed.

He guessed the water temperature to be in the low fifties, maybe high forties. Brutal enough to send a person into cold incapacitation—the loss of control of hands and the muscles in the arms and legs. Before long, they would quit working altogether.

The water’s usual dark blue was almost an inky black, but as he dived beneath the surface it was crystal clear, so that he could see.

There.

He saw her well enough. She still had some fight in her, but her eyes were wide with terror as she fought a losing battle to the surface. Her limbs had become too cold and numb to make a difference. Soon Adam would also succumb. But she’d been in the water much longer than he had. He could do this. He could save her.

Had to save her. He couldn’t fail again. Couldn’t let someone drown again, though his best friend’s death would always be on his head.

His lungs burned as he thrust toward her, seized her arm and, with all his strength, swam them to the surface. He grabbed the life buoy and pulled her out of the bitingly cold water. Nate and Jared tugged them toward the boat, and Adam held on to the woman. Water poured from her mouth as she coughed and choked.

Fueled by adrenaline, even his relief that she hadn’t drowned couldn’t slow his racing pulse. His buddies assisted them onto the trawler, and then forgot about Adam and ushered her inside the galley, where it was warm. Dripping and cold, Adam followed and saw Jared wrap a blanket around her. Her lips were blue in her pale face as she shivered and sat in the booth, still gasping for breath.

“You need to remain still. Get warmed up,” Jared told them.

Adam knew Jared referred to post-rescue collapse. They had to wait until their systems had warmed up completely so their hearts would stabilize.

Before he slid into the booth beside her, she lifted the biggest bluest eyes he’d ever seen to meet his gaze.

Adam knew those eyes.

Stunned, he took a step back. She appeared equally surprised to see him. Maybe in the urgency of the rescue, recognition hadn’t kicked in for either of them.

When Jared handed over a mug of microwaved cocoa, she eagerly took it. Adam wrapped his hand around the mug offered him, and settled in next to Cobie MacBride.

At one time, Cobie had been the only woman for him. She’d cured him of ever wanting to go through that again. Weird to think she didn’t even know about the feelings he’d had.

“Thank you for saving me.” She shook her head, stared into her cup. Her beautiful eyes had lost none of their grief from the tragedy that had left her brother dead, but some sort of wild terror swam in them now, as well.

“What happened?” Adam asked. “Why’d you jump?”

He wasn’t sure he wanted to know the answer. He couldn’t stand it if she said she’d been trying to kill herself. But he wouldn’t believe it, either. She’d waved for them; she’d wanted their help. And if they hadn’t been there? Adam clamped down on those thoughts.

“I didn’t have a choice.”

TWO

Was this some sort of dream? Nightmare?

The past few minutes washed over her. She struggled to grasp what had happened. The men stared at her, confusion on their faces. Bewildered herself, she frowned. How did she explain without sounding...well...crazy?

“What do you mean, you didn’t have a choice?” Raw concern flashed in Adam’s eyes.

That surprised her.

It had been so long since she’d seen him, been this close to him, old feelings tumbled over every other thought. She’d missed him. Shaking off the tangle of emotions, she hung her head and sighed.

“I need a minute to think.” Gather her thoughts.

Almost equally as shocking as the events of the past few moments was the fact that Adam sat next to her, wrapped in his own wool blanket. He angled to look at her, his solid form a comforting presence compared with moments ago when another man had tried to kill her.

And if she was drawing comfort from his nearness, then that just proved how befuddled and exhausted she was. He’d pulled her from the depths, saved her life. She knew that. But it didn’t make up for the past.

Adding to her anxiety, tumultuous waves rocked the trawler, much like the turmoil that tossed her mind. She tugged the blanket closer, tighter.